HC told about appointment of additional MCOCA judges

A division bench of Justices A S Oka and S S Jadhav, which was hearing a petition filed by Mohammed Atik Mohammed Iqbal, an accused in the 2010 Pune German Bakery bomb blast case, was informed about the decision by the administrative department of the high court.

Iqbal has sought speedy disposal of cases under the MCOCA.

On the last hearing, the court had directed its administration section to put forth the position on availability and appointment of additional judges to hear MCOCA cases.

Appearing for the administration, additional government pleader Sudeep Nargolkar, today told the court that a decision has now been taken to appoint additional special judges for Thane, Raigad, Alibaug and the rest of Maharashtra.

"For Raigad and Alibaug, two more judges will be appointed and for Thane, one additional judge will be appointed. For the remaining districts of Maharashtra, nine additional judges will be appointed," Nargolkar said.

The court has asked the state government to ensure that special public prosecutors are available full time to appear in these matters.

The state government has also been asked to consider creating a review committee which would consider whether the imposition of the act in specific cases is justified or not.

The court has kept the case for hearing on October 23, by when the state government and the High Court administration will have to inform the bench about the status of compliance to these decisions.